


Deception

by shadowhostage (thenakednymph), thenakednymph



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: Deception, F/M, Labyrinth - Freeform, Sarah as the Goblin King is my fave okay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-08-08
Updated: 2016-01-03
Packaged: 2017-11-11 16:34:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/480569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenakednymph/pseuds/shadowhostage, https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenakednymph/pseuds/thenakednymph
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Sarah realizes Jareth was trying to trap her in the Labyrinth so he could escape all those years ago she's afraid; but now that she knows will she really be able to just leave him there, or will she dare to take his place?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, recently updated because I'm going to add a second chapter. I'm not sure if it'll continue or when another part will be poted if and when I decide to pursue this, but I thought you might enjoy some more.

He'd had enough. She had denied him and he was finally tired of trying.

Throwing the crystal across the room Jareth sank back into the chair behind his desk as the little orb struck the wall and shattered. It was impossible.

He put his head in his hands, his heart twisting with rage at his fate. He'd sworn to be free of this place so many centuries ago and yet here he was, right where he had started, still trapped for all eternity in the Underground.

Jareth leaned back in his chair. He'd been so close. He'd manipulated the girl to within an inch of accepting the crystal. One step more and he would have been free, leaving her trapped in his place, but her innocence had saved her. Were her eyes still so innocent he wondered. He banished the thought. She'd chosen her brother over him. He doubted she had been old enough to understand what he had been offering her and was sure she was nowhere near clever enough to discover the truth behind what he said he would give her.

The real joy of dreams was in their impossibility. If they ever came true they wouldn't be dreams anymore and they would never be as pleasing as the person imagined them to be. Why humans sought after them so fervently was a wonder to him. And still no one had come as far as she had. She had been the first and for the briefest of moments he thought he had won, and then she had chosen the child. 

Jareth's hands tightened into fists, the leather of his gloves creaking. His lips twisted. Foiled by a little girl. He was losing his edge. He'd been down here too long. But that was the point wasn't it? To make him suffer, to make him weak. But his hate had sustained him and it would still.

Picking up another crystal Jareth turned it, letting the light play off its polished surface. What other choice did he have?

~

Sarah bolted upright as another wave of thunder rolled overhead. She stared wide eyed into the dark, gasping for breath, her legs tangled in the sheets, her skin chilling in the night air. 

I understand," she breathed, her body trembling. "Oh God, I understand." Sarah leapt from her bed and switched on the lights, pacing back and forth and biting at her thumbnail. All these years later and she finally understood.

He was trapped. He'd been trapped in the Underground. Had she taken the crystal she would have taken his place, allowing him to go free. She didn't know how she knew, she just did. And she knew she was right. How long had he been down there?

Sarah's eyebrows knitted together. She supposed the real question was what would she do now that she knew? She couldn't just leave him there, but was she willing to give up everything for him? Sarah glanced around her apartment. 

Since graduating from college life had been difficult. The economy was bad and finding a job had been next to impossible and even then she was just a pencil pusher. Not exactly her dream job. She'd never found the money or the time to travel like she'd wanted. She rarely went home anymore and she and Toby had recently started butting heads again as he grew into a teenager. She didn't have many friends so there was no one to leave behind and if she was honest with herself she missed the Labyrinth, even longed for it at times. Wouldn't this give her what she wanted?

Steeling herself Sarah agreed it would. But would Jareth sill make the same offer? It had been so long, but she had to try. So straightening her shoulders and steeling herself for what she hoped was to come, Sarah turned to the window and called his name.

The wind moaned against the house, buffeting the windows and lightning flashed outside, blinding her and she flinched back wih a wince. Sarah shivered as the air crackled, making her hair stand on end. There was an explosion of sound and breaking glass and something flew past her face making her scream.

She twisted about, trying to protect herself from the flying debris as a tree branch exploded through her window. When she finally turned back to the window he was there, looking exactly as she remembered. His fists settled arrogantly on his hips, tilting his head to the side with a smug smile.

Sarah's heart lodged in her throat, half in fear and half in longing and for a moment all she could do was stare. His mouth crooked into a cruel smile, his eyes roving over her and suddenly Sarah wished she'd had the forethought to change into some decent clothes before calling him. All she wore now was an over sized band tee she'd gotten from a concert the year before.

Pushing her embarrassment aside Sarah tried to stand up straight, but his presence still intimidated her.

"Hello," she finally managed. Jareth smirked and she wanted to slap herself. She was no longer a child to be toyed with and she could see in his eyes he thought she hadn't changed. "I didn't think you'd come," she said, steeling her voice and her spine, her hands tightening into fists at her sides.

He took a step towards her and to her right, slowly circling her. Sarah tried to follow him with her eyes, but forced herself not to turn with him. He made her feel like a mouse being stalked by a cat and she struggled not to turn and run. Maybe this was a bad idea.

"And why, may I ask, have I been summoned? Surely there is not another child you would wish away." The barb stung, but she admitted it wasn't wholly undeserved. She looked away and dropped her head.

"I was hoping…" Now that he was here she couldn't bring herself to say it.

"You were hoping what Sarah?" He lifted her chin and Sarah's heart skipped. She'd forgotten what an affect he had on her and she swallowed thickly he palms beginning to sweat. Her lips parted as she stared at him, at the cruelty and lust in his eyes. "That I would offer you your dreams again?" he finished.

Sarah blushed but didn't look away. "Yes," she whispered.

Jareth sneered and released her. "And what have I to gain from this?" He returned to his pacing in front of her, hands clasped behind his back and he was coiled rage. "I just give you what you want out of the goodness of my heart, is that it?" Sarah gave a rather unladylike snort and quickly ducked her head so he wouldn't see her smile. She shifted her weight hoping to look awkward and child like. If he still thought her that selfish maybe there was a chance for this to work. If he knew how different she was he would never offer her what she wanted.

"I don't know." She gave a halfhearted shrug. "I didn't think that far ahead. I never expected you to come." She wrung her hands and bit her lip in what she hoped was a convincing manner. "After all this time, I barely dared hope you were real." She peered up at him through her hair as he stopped his pacing and turned to face her. He flicked his hand and the crystal appeared, resting lightly on his gloved fingertips.

Sarah couldn't help the little gasp that elicited from her as she saw it. Jareth heard it too and gave a teasing smile.

"Do you still want it Sarah? All your dreams at your fingertips." He held the crystal out to her and her mouth went dry. This was it. She was so close. She ran her tongue over her lips to wet them, her eyes flicking between Jareth's face and the crystal.

"It's really for me?" she asked, forcing her voice to sound breathless as she reached for the orb, her fingers hovering near it.

"If you answer a question for me." He was watching her strangely. "Why?" he finally asked. He searched her eyes for a moment. Something was wrong, but he couldn't quite place what it was. He was so close to freedom, it was intoxicating.

For a moment his mask of cruelty fell away revealing an intense curiosity and a certain degree of wariness. Sarah's own mask fell away and standing before him was no longer the little girl he'd known so long ago but the woman she'd grown into. She stared boldly up into his eyes.

"Because no one deserves to be trapped for all eternity," she whispered. "Not even you." Jareth's body went cold. - She knew. She knew and still she was going to take it.

"Sarah-" He tried to stop her but it was too late. She'd already touched the crystal.


	2. There and Back Again

It's years before he sees her again, the time dragging by in a way that makes him grind his teeth. Eventually he grows used to it, what other choice does he have? But he still finds the progression ponderously unbearable. He's forced to find a job, an apartment, to live like a mortal, and still he searches for a way back, a way into the labyrinth she stole from him.

Everything is hard at first; from using the faucet to wash his hands to feeling hunger for the first time. It's all foreign and by the second year he has a new found understanding and respect for those living Above.

It isn't what he expected when he sought freedom from the prison of the labyrinth; he'd hoped to keep his magic, to stay in the Underground, not to be expelled into the Above. He'd simply traded one prison for another. And now he had to deal with something else for the first time; guilt. He'd never expected it to eat away at him like this, like some awful acid, corroding at his bones leaving him brittle and weak, but eat at him it did, driving him back to the labyrinth and to her, driven mad with the need; if only he could find it.

In the end Jareth stumbled through a portal by accident, all of his searching and he just stumbled across it. He finds the revelation both insulting and satisfying.

It's not even in a place he'd expect but down an alley behind a seedy bar he'd come to frequent in his time in the Above. He finds the location completely undignified.

It's late October, sometime past midnight and he's taking the alley as a shortcut back to his apartment, the heavy mist clinging to his hair and chilling his fingers even though they're buried deep in the pockets of his jacket, making him shiver.

It takes him a moment to notice when the brick beneath his feet changes to moss covered cobblestones, the buildings rising overhead forming the ancient walls of the labyrinth but when he does he stumbles, nearly tripping over a gnarled root that's snaked its way across the path.

His mouth hangs open and he gapes up at the sky, at stars and constellations he should recognize but doesn't, his heart pounding in his chest and making him away on his feet.

After all his searching he's finally back, and he doesn't need magic to know something is desperately wrong.

~

A chime rings out through the room, drawing the attention of the fairies that have taken to following the new Goblin King through her kingdom. They flutter and skip about, their little wings throwing off sparks that skitter across the heavy rugs, singeing them until Sarah reaches over and lifts the crystal.

Reclining back in the padded chair beside the hearth, she studies the images trapped inside the sphere, the fairies hovering around her shoulders.

"Well, well," she murmers. "The would-be king returns." Her lips spread in a slow smile as she turns the crystal in her fingers.

"This is going to be fun." Firelight dances across her eyes and from the shadows the fairies laugh.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: My gods this needed editing something fierce.


	3. Into the Labyrinth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right, I was not intending to continue this story but there has been a near constant stream of inquiries and requests for it to be continued. I will be doing my best to continue it.  
> That being said, I have no idea where it's going and updates will likely be few and far between so please try to keep that in mind. I want to make sure any chapters I do post are written to the best of my ability. I don't usually pursue something this drawn out because I'm bad it. Shorts are my strong suit and I don't like to post a fic I haven't fully written out first so strap in and grit your teeth with me because this is going to be an adventure.

A low voice squeaks his name, like the iron wheels of a carriage over gravel, breaking Jareth from his study of the night sky, and he turns, blinking in the dark trying to find the source of the voice. A small figure emerges from the shadows, shuffling towards him, its body a grotesque and misshapen silhouette. Beady eyes stare up at him in surprise before narrowing suspiciously into a glare, hands resting on wide hips.

  
“Hogs-head.” Jareth snaps his fingers as if struggling to remember, but for once Hoggle doesn't rise to the bait.

“Whut're you doin' 'ere?” he demands, striking Jareth on the thigh with a fist and Jareth stares at him in surprise, rubbing at the spot. He can feel a welt forming beneath his fingers. “Ye'r not s'pose to be here.” Hoggle's voice drops to a whisper and he glances at the towering walls of the labyrinth some distance away, something like fear flickering in his eyes. “She'll be mad.” He looks at the stones, vines creeping slowly across them, like writhing snakes silhouetted atop the wall and Jareth shivers.

Hoggle pinches Jareth's sleeve and pulls him further away, lowering his voice as if the stones might hear him. Jareth thinks maybe they can.  
  
He bends forward to hear as Hoggle speaks, his gravely voice hardly more than a whisper. “You shouldn't be here,” he warns in a low hiss. “She'll kill you.”

“Who?” Jareth asks dumbly, but he already knows the answer.

Hoggle hits him again, this time on the arm and Jareth glares, rubbing at the spot. “Who indeed,” Hoggle snaps. “You know who. You made her!”

Jareth's lips thin into something like regret and he looks years older from when Hoggle saw him last. “Yes,” he admits softly. “I did.”

Hoggle chews at the inside of his cheek, glancing at a little cluster of light spinning off in the distance above the labyrinth. He studies Jareth as if seeing him for the first time, a deep furrow forming between his wiry eyebrows. He wrings his hands nervously and Jareth's eyes are drawn to the click of plastic beads around his wrist. Something inside Jareth aches at the sight of the little bracelet he still wears.

Hoggle catches him looking and slaps one hand over the jewelry as if to protect it, an expression somewhere between guilt and anger flitting across his face.

“I'm surprised you still have it,” Jareth says softly. “After everything that's happened.”  
Hoggle shrugs self consciously, spinning the bracelet around his wrist. “Guess I keep hoping she'll go back to normal,” he admits.

Hoggle blinks back tears again, an array of emotions and accusations bubbling up inside him but he bites his tongue and holds them back.

“May I?” Jareth extends a hand towards Hoggle's wrist but doesn't touch.  
Hoggle clutches his bracelet-clad wrist to his chest, shaking his head.  
“I will not take it,” Jareth says gently. “I know how powerful a memento can be.”

Hoggle relents and extends his arm to Jareth, hand trembling. Jareth takes it in his own, Hoggle's palm warm against his. He runs the fingers of his other hand over the beads, sad that he can no longer pull the memory forth from the item and lose himself in it. He never realized he had a weakness for solipsism.

He lets Hoggle take his hand back and tries to smile. He doesn't say thank you, but Hoggle hears it none the less. Hoggle clutches the beads to his chest, spinning them idly and watching Jareth.

“Y'er different,” he grumbles, huffing softly. He leans forward with a frown. “Smell different too.” Hoggle wrinkles his nose in disgust, scanning Jareth from head to toe before spitting on the ground between them. “Stink like a mortal.”

“Are you telling me Sarah used to stink?” Jareth teases and the blood drains from Hoggle's face. He rushes to try and smother Jareth to keep him from talking but he's too late.

“We don't say her name!” he cries, heedless of who might be listening. “Don't say it!” He slaps his hands over Jareth's mouth, wild-eyed, his eyes darting about. Something in the undergrowth rustles and giggles around them. Jareth isn't sure if it's the wind through the trees or something far more sinister, but he has his doubts. The lights over the labyrinth have danced closer.

Hoggle tugs Jareth further under the trees seeking some kind of sheltered protection beneath the shadows of their limbs. He's sweating, his breathing labored and part of Jareth is impressed at the level of fear Sarah's somehow managed to inflict upon him. Not even he was able to inspire such a reaction from the residents of the labyrinth in his time as King. But maybe that had been the point. A king was meant to protect his subjects. Even Jareth had known that. It seemed Sarah had little concern for the goblins or anyone else if Hoggle's reaction was anything to go by. That shouldn't have bothered him but it did.

Hoggle sinks to the ground, peeking out from between the bushes at the flickering lights and Jareth does the same, the damp seeping in through his jeans.

“What are they?” he whispers.

“Fairies. They're her spies; her eyes and ears in the labyrinth. Not that she needs them.” He glances at Jareth. “She knows you're here. Probably knew a'fore you did. Likely sent them to spy on you. And now you've got me all mixed up in this too.” He groans, flopping back onto the ground, his back to a mossy oak, a look of despair on his face.

Jareth risks one more look at the darting lights, spinning and chasing one another like living stars. “What happened Hoggle?” Jareth asks, “After I left.”

Hoggle scoffs. “Left is it?” he throws back before snorting in disdain. “She came.” He gestures with his chin in what Jareth assumes is the general direction of what had once been the goblin city, reaching into his pocket to pull out an orange. He begins to peel it, tucking the rinds into a small pouch at his hip. “At first it was fine,” he goes on. “We'd all missed her. Was nice...havin' her back.” He sniffles, scrubbing at his face with a sleeve. “Then somethin' started happenin'. She got mean, started changin'.” His wet eyes blink at Jareth in the darkness. “It ain't her no more Jareth.” He stares down at his orange, turning it in knobby hands.

“You remember Didymus?” he asks softly and Jareth nods.

“The old knight who guarded the bridge,” Jareth says slowly remembering. “Yes, I remember. I also remember him helping both you and her find the way into the goblin city,” he scolds.

“She blinded him.”

Jareth feels the bottom of his stomach drop out and any sacrastic remark he may have had dries in his mouth. Sarah did that? His Sarah? “Why?” he breathes.

Hoggle shrugs, his eyes on the ground. “Said his eyes looked too much like a memory, all watery and sad all the time.” Hoggle's own eyes grow wet again. “She laughed.” He chokes on the words, one hand balling into a fist and he trembles. Jareth is dumbstruck.

“But I thought he was a friend.”

Hoggle sniffles again. “So did I.” He splits the orange in half, the juice spilling down his fingers. He passes one part of it to Jareth and Jareth takes it, feeling numb.

“Thank you,” he murmurers and Hoggle gives him a funny look as he bites into the orange, the aroma somehow pure and out of place among the heavy rot he can smell hanging in the air.

“You really are different,” Hoggle mutters.

Jareth shrugs with one shoulder. “Living like a mortal will do that to you.”

Hoggle purses his lips, not hungry any more and hands over the rest of the orange.  
“Never thought I'd say it, but I miss you.” He looks around the labyrinth sadly. “It was better before.”

Jareth scoffs. “I was a despot. A child playing with his kingdom who threw a temper tantrum when something didn't go my way, not caring who was caught in the crossfire.”

“Course,” Hoggle agrees with a shrug and Jareth frowns.  
“The least you could have done was argue with me,” Jareth grumbles. “For my ego if nothing else.”

“Yer ego could do with a little pounding.” Hoggle glares at him but the expression doesn't hold for long. “But you never hurt any one o' us. Not really.” He lowers his gaze and pokes at a pebble. “The labyrinth used to be safe. Now...it scares me.”

“Nothing scares you but me,” Jareth argues imperiously, trying to inject some of his old flare into the words but Hoggle doesn't smile.

“Not anymore. I'd take you over her any day.”

Jareth is almost offended but then his heart sinks and he realizes he's lost his appetite. He sets what's left of the orange aside. “I take it things are a lot worse than I first realized then.”

Hoggle nods dumbly, pushing the pebble first one way and then back the other, rolling it between his fingers. “How could you have don't this to 'er?” he demands. “You haven't seen what it's done to 'er. She's a mortal.” Jareth frowns. “Was,” Hoggle amends. “She wasn't made to carry the mantle of the labyrinth. It's twisted her, made her into something frightenin'. I think- I think it's killin' 'er.”

“That's not possible.” Jareth waves the assertion away with his hand. “The labyrinth needs a ruler. It will find a way to keep her alive, no matter the cost.”

“That's mah point,” Hoggle grumbles, jabbing a finger at him. “Just because she's alive don't mean she's livin'. You ain't seen her.”

Jareth tries to press him for more information but Hoggle just shakes his head and says Jareth won't understand, that he'd have to see her to know and Jareth realizes he's right.  
Brushing his hands off Jareth rises and Hoggle gropes for the hem of his jeans, trying to pull him back.

“Whut do you think yer doin?” he hisses, trying to tug him back down.

“You said she already knows I'm here,” Jareth says, “so there's no point in hiding.” He steps out of the undergrowth, Hoggle scrambling backwards into deeper cover as the twin lights dart toward them, circling Jareth's head before coming to hover in front of him. He can just make out two slim figures in the light, but little else. They titter at him, rotating slowly in the air, their color shifting subtly from a pale yellow to warm amber.

He stares at them, the fine hairs at the base of his neck prickling and he knows she's looking at him.

“Hello Sarah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and if you stumble across anything clunky, spelling mistakes, etc. PLEASE let me know. I will not be offended, just embarrassed.


End file.
